A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Herald Business
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New real estate
company opens
Hermiston
residents
have another option for
their real estate needs
with the recent opening
of Christianson Realty
Group.
The new company is
located at 702 E. Main St.,
Hermiston, in the Sim-
mons Insurance building.
Principal broker Ben-
nett Christianson said the
two companies are sep-
arate businesses but will
work together to provide
clients with a complete
package of services all in
one place.
“We’re trying to cover
as many needs for people
under one roof as possi-
ble,” he said.
Christianson
Realty
Group offers help buying
and selling commercial
and residential proper-
ties. They will also offer a
one-stop-shop partnership
with Simmons Insurance
for services such as home-
owners insurance and in-
vesting.
Christianson said he
grew up in Hermiston, and
he and his father, Wayne
Christianson, moved to
the coast in 2007 to start a
real estate career together.
Nine years later they have
moved back to Hermis-
ton and teamed up with
former American West
broker Melissa Mercer to
form Christianson Realty
Group.
Christianson said he
and his father are excited
to be back in the area and
looking forward to doing
business here.
“It’s good to be back
and reconnect with people
in town,” he said.
For more information,
call the company at 971-
237-1403.
Lamb Weston to split
from ConAgra Foods
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Eastside Market owner Joe Thompson stands by some of the local athletics photos on display at the market.
JOE THOMPSON RETIRES FROM EASTSIDE
MARKET, BUT NOT COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
After 30 years run-
ning Eastside Market in
downtown Hermiston, Joe
Thompson is retiring.
He plans to inalize sale
of the business and step
down at the end of this
week. Thompson said he
and his wife Sherry plan to
stick around Hermiston, so
people will still see him —
or “hear” him — as he an-
nounces Hermiston High
School football games and
other local events.
“I think oftentimes
Hermiston doesn’t get the
reputation it deserves as a
top-notch town with a spe-
cial group of citizens,” he
said.
Even though he plans
to stay involved with the
community through local
sports, he said he will miss
the people of the Eastside
Market most, from regular
customers to employees.
All sorts of people have
started their day or whiled
away an afternoon over
cups of coffee at the tables
in the front corner of the
market.
Overlooking those ta-
bles are two walls of pho-
tos and plaques from local
athletes. Some, like former
shot-putting standout My-
kael Bothum, are Herm-
iston residents Thompson
watched grow up who now
bring their own children
into the market.
Thompson said the col-
lection started with a photo
that a Little League team
brought by years ago as a
thank you to the market for
helping them purchase uni-
forms.
“That was the start,
and I kind of took it from
there,” he said. “I have
twice as many in the
back.”
Thompson’s
parents
owned Eastside Market
before him. They bought
it after he graduated high
school. In 1985 when
Thompson returned to
Hermiston as an adult, he
took over operations at the
store. It was nice having
his parents available for
advice, he said, but there
was still a steep learning
curve.
Even after he had a
handle on what he was
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
Sheriff Terry Rowan talks with Larry Storment and Sonny Liebe earlier this summer at
Eastside Market in Hermiston. The market has become a regular hangout and gathering place
for some members of the community under Thompson’s ownership.
doing, Thompson said the
job required a lot of long
hours over the years. The
store is open 17 hours a
day or more.
“It’s seven days a week,
basically, because you’re
keeping tabs on things,”
he said. “You sleep with
your phone.”
He has tweaked a few
things over the years, but
the overall formula has
stayed the same.
Lately Eastside Mar-
ket has been a good luck
charm for Hermiston
residents. The market
sold a string of winning
lottery tickets over the
course of the summer, in-
cluding three Scratch-It
wins worth a combined
$175,000.
When the market’s
Facebook page posted
an announcement that
Thompson was leaving,
it was looded with com-
ments reminiscing about
good times there.
“I can vividly remem-
ber going into Eastside
Market when I was a
young kid, and my chil-
dren grew up right down
the street from Eastside
Market,” Jeremy Kile
wrote. “I feel privileged
to have been able to enjoy
the little market that never
was a ‘convenience’ store,
but rather a ‘neighborhood
market.’”
“I’ve spent so many
weekends in there getting
food and drinks with my
sister and father before
he passed,” Adam Briley
wrote. “Each time I remem-
ber Joe being the man on the
scene. Times are a changing.
Gonna miss you.”
Thompson said he’ll
miss everyone as well, es-
pecially those who helped
the market in various ways
over the years.
“There’s a lot of people
who helped us get things
squared away,” he said.
“We won’t ever forget
them and what they’ve
done for our family here.”
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G O O D
Lamb Weston, the fro-
zen potato titan with
french fry plants in
Hermiston and Board-
man, willo spin off from
ConAgra Foods later this
fall to become its own
independent and publicly
traded company.
The move was orig-
inally announced by
ConAgra oficials in
November 2015, and a
registration statement for
Lamb Weston Holdings
was iled with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange
Commission in July.
A spokeswoman said
the separation will not
affect any of the local
manufacturing facilities.
Lamb Weston employs
more than 1,500 people
in Oregon.
In 2014, Lamb Weston
expanded its opera-
tions at the Port of Mor-
row by opening a new
192,000-square-foot
plant with the capacity to
make 1 million pounds
of fries every day. Cor-
porate ofices are located
in nearby Kennewick,
Washington, and Boise.
ConAgra
Foods,
based in Chicago, is the
largest packaged food
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company in North Amer-
ica. It purchased Lamb
Weston in 1988, but de-
cided they could beneit
more as two stand-alone
companies.
“We are conident
that thAfter the split,
ConAgra will maintain
most of their popular
consumer brands. Lamb
Weston’s portfolio will
focus on frozen potato,
sweet potato, appetiz-
er and other vegetable
products. Stockholders
will own shares of both
independent companies.
Lamb Weston was
established in Umatil-
la County in 1950 by F.
Gilbert “Gib” Lamb as a
frozen foods processing
company. Lamb is cred-
ited with revolutionizing
the potato processing in-
dustry with his invention
of the water gun knife
in 1960, which shot po-
tatoes, using water pres-
sure, into a cutting grid to
slice potatoes into french
fries, and Lamb Weston
began processing frozen
french fries by 1961.
Lamb
Weston
is
scheduled to re-emerge
as an independent com-
pany next month. Lamb
Weston generated $2.9
billion in sales in 2015.
”
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